Jogging & My Time Alone

Mid-week! Damn fast, isn’t it?

Last evening I went jogging, from XGX Centre, along Fullerton & Esplanade, all the way to Kallang Coast Guard area and back to the exercise station under Bengamin Sheares bridge. Being the competitive me, I paced along with my fellow running mate and refused to slow down. But in the end she spurred on a bit more nearing the end-point, where I was not able to catch up anymore. Nevertheless, my speed improved a lot! There’s why we all need a pushing factor for us to improve.

After which, I had my usual weekly time-out session all for myself at EastLink, having my dinner of tau suan and tau sa pau. Mistake! Both were made richly of flour which made my tummy all bloated after the meal. I could still feel my tummy airs churning in my sleep last night. I must learn my mistake.

It’s important for us to have a time-out session all for ourselves at least once in a week. In the midst of our ever-busy and hectic lives, we could get too immersed in our work that we forget what is core to us.

Shoes Shopping!

Third pair of shoes in less than a month! This time round it's a classy black high-heeled shoes with bonze front straps from Charles & Keith. I need a big shoe rack soon! Wahaha.

On second thoughts, and after switching to Ms Practical after the first day of the work-week, I've decided flowers may not be such a good idea after all if they have a very strong fragrance (so strong it becomes overwhelming) and attract ants. Unless, they come in a bouquet easy for dry-hanging.

Heh.

To the guys out there:

Romancing your girlfriends is a very important and somewhat necessary thing to do. You don’t have to please her every other day, or every week, but a surprise once in a while is the sweetest thing a girl can get.

Guys can be as straight as the backbone of a herring, never able to grasp the messages their female counterparts send. Send her a bouquet of roses on a special day; bring her to an unexpected picnic by the reservoir or just pop by her house for breakfast! Little actions do not need much brainstorming to come up with, and not that much of an effort if you really want to make her happy.

Be told (warned) of the fact that all females, at some point (or all points) of their lives, would exercise a certain extent of jealousy and envy. Don’t expect to satisfy her completely with dates and dinners; she wants those sweet little things that you guys think silly of and laugh at. If you’re not willing to do these for the worry of “losing face”, then get a dumb girl, a 三从四德贤妻良母。Smart women are independent, yet they have a soft side to be nurtured.

After having said so much, am I to expect a bouquet of lovely flowers soon? *hmm*

Feng Gang Gathering

Nowadays when I tend to get angry, I rationalize my emotions with logical reasoning. Let’s say a friend said to drop by at 3pm, but reached an hour and half later. This I understand coz I exercise the same misjudgment, due to unexpected tasks and a lack of time. However, there is a fine line between what is a genuine miscalculation and an intended wrong. I don’t like people giving empty promises, people who don’t exercise punctuality (or at least who thinks you have a lot of time to spare waiting for them) and people who does not respect others. In the workplace, you see very irresponsible people who can conveniently forget to inform you of important matters, or shall I say it’s a whole department of staff who do that.

But aside from work matters, my propensity to get flared up has dropped, partly due to less time spent at home. Previously, I tend to get worked up facing Ama at home as she can be too stubborn for someone like me to bear. Furthermore, less time spend together actually increases both amicability towards each other. That’s how the Chinese proverb goes: 物以希为贵。Humans treasure only things out-of-reach to them.

Last evening the Feng Gang (as I termed it) gathered at Ivan’s house for a good meal cum catch-up session. We tried Ivan’s hearty cum healthy home-cooked dishes – teochew-styled steam fish, 公保鸡丁, prawns and stir-fried asparagus – which were very praiseworthy especially when it was Ivan’s first attempt. It was a very refreshing break from the routine of having meals out. I still remember the butter-oil-soaked pasta WW had the other time we met at Moonfish. Heh.

After the main meal we girls, as usual, were craving for something sweet (the best is that it’s chilling as well; we [they] don’t care about its sinfulness). As a natural progression, Tian excitedly presented the Marquise chocolate cake from The Patissier (http://www.thepatissier.com/) and joyfully took out two tubs of ice cream, rum & raisin and kahlua krunch, bought from The Daily Scoop (http://www.thedailyscoop.com.sg/) and very much to all’s delight. If we all meet every week, I will definitely grow to be very fat! But the desserts were simply too hard to resist; I had to cut some apples to curb the urge to dig on further into those two tubs.

In all, we had a good time, indulging in home-cooked fare, sinful desserts and one another’s company. We were laughing away when flipping through the photos of older times, especially the one taken in Swissotel, hehehe. We as a group have definitely come a long way together, as long as a good “some years”, as insisted by Xianhe. (Actually it was a good decade since those secondary school times.) Oh hoho. How young are we now?

Quidam by Cirque du Soleil

We’re going to watch Quidam this evening! We are given tickets for four – Mama, Papa, Shou Bi, and me – totally FOC. And those are VIP seats, each costing S$250. Can you believe it?

It’s a pity TP can’t join us as she has to work, but I’m sure the next time round the whole family can go together. I’m very grateful to the organization’s goodwill (I’m not sure which organization it is, but I’m going to find out.) and generosity. Mama has been mentioning her interest in catching Quidam since she liked the previous circus performance – Algeria. Happy that her desire to watch Quidam will be fulfilled this evening, and it will be another opportunity for family bonding. I love my family!

Only two days ago, we went to Chinese Garden for its Lantern Safari display during this mid-Autumn festival period. A pity Shou Bi was not able to join us due to work. Both TP and I took leave so that we could accompany Mama Papa and to take care of them. Will post some photos when I’m using the computer back at home.

Yay, looking forward to this evening! Quidam!

Mixed Feelings

VB is out, and I'll be getting it on the 25th! But I'm having mixed feelings, coz VB is pretty good, but increment is nutty peanuts. Less than 2%! What is that?

Back to the blog I posted on 20 August, I can afford to buy all those in my "wants" list, and still have $5k savings. :) Can give some to parents too. Yay.

To recap, my list goes:
1) Classic Swiss watch (I’ve wanted one for ages!)
2) Roald Dahl’s children books
3) The Economist subscription
4) Laptop for me to do my work and surf the Internet during weekends at McDonald’s drive-out [don't want oreadi]
5) 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle

I can't wait to buy my watch! WW, let's go shopping this weekend oki? :)

Saturday Night-Out

WW and I met up with his group of JC friends at California Bistro for dinner. We enjoyed the one-for-one pasta offer and saved quite a fair amount of money. Quite a pity that they don't seem to be having much of a business on a Saturday evening.

The three guys (from left to right): Hong An, Gay Yong, and WW in pink :p

And corresponding, the three ladies: Junie, me and Jasmine

Then we moved on to Liquid Kitchen at Upper Thomson Road to chill-out. Bitchy and flirty waitresses serving customers over there yo.

WW and YZ :)


Christina (she joined us after dinner) and Junie. Does Christina look familiar to you?


Yeah, the whole gang of us. Junie brought bite-size mooncakes from Mei Zhen Xiang for us too. Nice gathering!

Chase my thoughts, if you are able to keep up

What would you think of a person who keeps a daily expenses record, as well as a diary updated weekly? Or perhaps an excel sheet to record foreseen future expenses so that the full financial balances are clearly articulated?

What is a woman without emotions, especially those that swing in a manner similar to a roller-coaster ride? Who would have known that a female's hormones can affect so much of her thinking and feelings, evoking seemingly irrational and insensible conjunctions of the mind? Would a woman, usually more logical than emotional, opt for the male's way of thinking and devoid herself of such unwarranted conclusions chucked out by the insecure mind?

All females like chocolate, cakes, or ice-cream, isn't it? Why do they not hold any appeal to any lady then? Sometimes I really think I place tight controls on myself. No chocolates, no cakes, no ice-cream, till a point when I no longer crave for them. Why not give me an apple instead? I go ga-ga over chocolate fondue more for the idea and freedom it offers instead of the satisfaction from the taste of hot melting chocolate in your mouth tickling your taste buds. What freedom in chocolate fondue? Well, you get to choose which fruits or marshmallow you want to dip, and in which kind of chocolate - dark, milk or white. Am I enjoying myself with my cravings for healthy food? Well, should be, since I feel the sweetness of my apple is comparable to that of chocolate, or at least I think so.

HDB or private housing? No answer yet. If both choices are achievable, how so for private housing? An even further answer awaits. That also boils down to the feeling of envy seeing other ladies proudly presenting their black Ladies' Card for swiping, yet there's only the plain greyish debit card lying in my wallet. UxB is good coz they know how to thrive their business by working on females' weakest point - envy cum jealousy. We just don't want to lose out to any others! You have Ladies, I shall aim for Black. You have Black, I'll get that Platinum and just you wait and see.

Anytime in the day is never the same as 1-3am in the early morning. Don't blame me for the uninteresting posts; mostly I am not given the right timing. And then again, t-1 (in hours and in exchange clearing and settlement terms) was supposedly the intended sleeping time. No wonder I look like a panda. The knowledge of having insufficient sleep stresses me out. I don't know if this fear is derived out of concern for my body, or out of my own expectations of having enough sleep everyday. Sounds like a freaky perfectionist, huh?

In some aspects, commitment, obligation and expectation have the same connotation. No wonder there are many who are commitment-phobia, especially the guys, who are expected to carry on their shoulder greater loads of burden. To me, these three terms may mean lack of personal freedom and choice in some instances, which my independent heart finds very difficult to accept at times. Similarly, I wish not to impose any pressure on anyone at all to have to fulfill my expectations.

I'm hungry and sleepy. Will I ever get the chance to lead the carefree life of 3am-sleeping-time and 9am-waking-time again?

Bottoms-Up (to Red Wine?!?!)

That’s a terrible move! Don’t ever do that if possible!

Speaking from personal experience, you won’t want to blank out on an MRT train and struggle hard for balance. And you won’t want indecisive moments wondering if you should step out of the train onto the platform for unintended puking. (Luckily my stomach was strong enough to hold back all the liquor.)

Last evening a group of slightly more than ten from XGX (quoting Sher’s style), who are members of a major project team, headed to Mon Petit Bar opposite our building for a rolling good cocktail party. I thought I could get away with orange juice, but our dear Group Head wanted everyone to drink! Unwillingly, I requested a glass of red wine from the waitress, who very coincidentally happened to be my cousin! We nibbled some finger food and chatted among ourselves, then, some very courageous colleague suggested bottoms-up with another. That kick-started a round of merry-drinking and a guy (aka jiu gui) happily toasted his beer to my red wine. Jialat lah, I have ¾ glass of red wine left ok. How to ta like that? But ta I went ahead, plus another ½ glass later.

This taught me the importance of holding your liquor man. More drinking sessions to come!

My Lovely IA Colleagues

I'm the one in pink top, white sweaterThat's our IA boss eating nuts, and my extremely nice supervisor singing away.

A get-together for bowling, dinner & karaoke on 26 Aug 05. How nice. :)

Morning Musings

I’m bored at work! Too little work for me! Hmm, I had better not complain too much coz my team leader is coming in on the 3rd Oct, then will have read project to work on. Anyway, I’m happily reading reference books, and constantly thinking of how to pass time when my boss goes on holiday next week. I can’t possibly read all day right? I will fall asleep in no time.

Tmr evening is another party time with drinks and finger food at Mon Petit Pastry Bar, with around 24 people, including our internal business users and fellow teammates. Alcohol will be served – beer, wine and liquor. Slurp. Sometimes I think it fun to work in the frontline business, where you get to do entertainment and free-load on savoury treats in high-class restaurants. So far my boss has brought me to the restaurant at Chinese Swimming Club, Town restaurant (http://www.fullertonhotel.com/en/dining/townrestaurant.html) at Fullerton Hotel and Neptune Theatre Restaurant, where I enjoy lavish food for no cost.

That brings me to a question – would you prefer working in the business frontline or at the backend? Some prefer having a party-wild group of colleagues, who are in actual fact, actors in their own regimes, while others prefer having down-to-earth colleagues who are more true to their fellow workmates. I still find it hard to juggle between the two choices – I value sincerity from fellow colleagues, but on the other hand, am not able to open up to them as I do to my friends outside the organization. Even though we see one another every working day (that’s a good five out of seven days in a week), there is an imminent lack of proximity in terms of spiritual contact. Often, the emotions shared would be more of a venting of resentment or unhappiness of one’s boss, spouse or friends. This is mistakenly known as the spiritual contact between colleagues, which I feel is kinda shallow and reflects no bonding between teammates. A better mode of communication would be through teambuilding activities, but honestly, how many of that can you hold for the department? In no time, everyone would get busy with their own work again and submerge in their own pile of activities. So, I actually would not mind having a group of more money- and market-driven colleagues to work with. Being kept on the toes while working is not such a bad thing, coz you mould yourself to be a sharper person after all.

What do you have for breakfast every morning?

How about an apple to start the day with? That is what I do, munching an apple on most mornings and reading the papers at the same time. Then I would nibble on a piece of bread, sometimes on the bus if I couldn’t manage the time before leaving the house. These 140kcal of food won’t last me till lunch time, so I would supplement with biscuits, teh or soy milk. On some days, I grow sick of this regime and head for the coffeeshop downstairs for something more different. So, that would be tau sa pau with teh, or pumpkin kueh with soy milk at the coffeeshop that plays songs from the 60’s and sprays water vapours out from its fans. Previously it used to be TP, Shou Bi and I, but nowadays I have breakfast out alone.

I feel one’s breakfast choices do tell something about the person. My boss likes to have roti prata or roti boy (there is something similar in the two) for breakfast – not very healthy. Some of my colleagues buy soy milk with bean paste biscuits (tau sa piah) or bee hoon back to office. I won’t be able to tong that long for my breakfast; I get hungry the moment I wake up! Mama and Shou Bi do not usually eat breakfast when they are up. I wonder how they go about doing work with empty stomachs till lunchtime. It’s healthy and recommended to fill your tummy with nutritious intakes at the start of the day. Besides, it kick-starts your day with higher energy levels and boosts your metabolism.

Last time in Raffles Hall, we used to have a variety of food for breakfast. On Monday it used to be western – sausage, baked beans and bread; on Tuesday we had half-boiled eggs; Wednesdays it was pau (my favourite); Thursday porridge; Fridays.. I can’t remember. Though the meals were pretty routine and standard, I was quite happy with it. At least there were some days in the week when I looked forward very much to the food. And those were the days when we could laze around in the canteen in the afternoons after our lectures and tutorials, enjoying the tea break with egg tarts and teh. We could enjoy the rays of the evening sun, which were shining onto our faces giving us that joyful gleam. How I miss those days!

Or-bi-good

On my way to work this morning, I saw a young lady trying to beat the traffic at a congested traffic-light crossing despite it being green light for the vehicles. Initially there was a halt for the vehicles at the crossing and it was then that the lady tried to thread across between the waiting vehicles. But after passing the first lane of the three, the traffic started flowing again and she found herself trapped in the middle of the moving traffic. Standing at the other end waiting for the pedestrian green light and seeing her standing cautiously between dangerous vehicles (mind you, the cars were all turning in from a main road!), I was half laughing at her, mocking her stupidity and impatience, or perhaps her disrespect for the vehicles. I guess my reaction wasn’t that appropriate; perhaps I should be empathizing her wrong move and worrying for her instead of thinking she deserved the nervous and stressed moment.

Nonetheless, the road is a dangerous place. Gotta give it some respect ok. Who knows if I were the one driving, carefully avoiding bumming into a strange human figure standing in the middle of the road, I would simply honk and give that figure a jump. Having to look out for such conditions especially when driving in the busy CBD area can be quite stressful and irritable, you know. Wahaha.

Sophia & Vincent's Wedding on 9th July 05

Quite a spectacular restaurant

That’s Neptune Theatre Restaurant at OUB House along Collyer Quay. The place is BIG, with two stories of dining area and a big performance stage in front. You can’t tell you’re in a restaurant in Singapore. It is just too out spectacular! I was at the restaurant yesterday for lunch with my boss and my future supervisor, who is joining the team in October. The restaurant served dim sum, which I thought tasted not bad. Also, they arranged for a Mexico performance on the stage during lunch time! Very happening to see Mexican dancers doing their boot-tapping and the females with their colourful big skirts that fly up with the circles they turn. Around us, there were bankers and professionals eating and chatting merrily away. There is a flavour of the 80’s, from the restaurant decorations, the oriental-carpeted floor to the wooden railings and staircase at the sides of the stage. What a sight! According to my boss, due to globalization, they are able to hire foreign performers such as Portuguese dancers and Chinese Mainland acrobat performers. Quite interesting! Hee, lucky me get the chance to visit such a special restaurant. :)

Adorable Little Animals

Some really sweet photos to share!

Singapore Service Industry

I get peeved by bad service. Restaurants or cafes that make you wait for up to half an hour for your food during a workday lunch time, or waiter/waitresses who treat you like an invisible sheet are two main turn-offs. I remember bad service, sometimes even the face having the poor attitude. And my irritability with bad service started long time before the promotion for good service came about. In the service industry, what matters is a genuine smile to customers and if you are feeling good, your radiance will be reflected in your actions and treatment to customers. Sad to say, the standards in Singapore have lots to improve on.

Lacklustre Work

Yeah! Me here blogging again coz my boss has no time for me, and he asked me along to McDonald’s later to discuss my slides while he eats his super-late lunch. I’m wishing more and more that I belong to a more routine role where at least I get my role clearly defined! Here I’m waiting for the Team Lead to come in till my neck is getting as long as the giraffe’s. Now I’m doing all these staff work like writing minutes, presenting self-assessment takeaways and other management supportive tasks that I feel like a secondary employee in the company!

So, this morning on the way to work, I was thinking and wondering, what is my dream job? I like to be under the sun, like autonomy and trust to do greater things at work; dislike routine yet non-fixed tasks. Don’t give me small pieces here and there, while not embarking on a project or core work. But anyway, I don’t like being in this department when I have to handle everything single-handedly and every piece of work needs to go through two levels of bosses which slow things immensely since my boss is so busy. Sucky.

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Dad’s birthday is coming up on this Friday. It will just be a simple dinner at Tampines Mall to celebrate, and most probably we’ll go for Din Tai Fung xiao long paos and ramen. Dad, being the typical cost-conscious man in the family, is concerned about the price we have to pay for the meal. But we shouldn’t let him have his way. Should enjoy life while we can! Plus, my parents have been working hard to earn money and living frugal lives since young. They have every right to lead lavish lives too, which I hope we kids can bring them onto soon.

If you don’t do what you like and eat what you crave for when you feel like it, there are not going to be many chances to do so. We have so little time on hands and should just make ourselves happy by doing what we feel like, as long as they are not against own principles. That’s why a lot of people don’t care about whether they gain weight and grow fat (but still not fatter that what they can accept), or if they need to maintain a regular exercise regime. For me, the initial motivation comes from the beauty of being slim – allowing me the additional hop in my steps, that feeling or light-weight and that bounce that somehow reenacts my flying dreams in real life. But now I see the bigger picture and place greater emphasis on fitness, health and balance in life. Looks are still important, no doubt, but should not be placed as an inspiration above practical and nobler ones. And despite saying that, I still want to look young, with the radiant skin and pinkish glow in my cheeks! Where are the days when I managed to, somehow, charm a handful at the same time period? Hoho.

Happy Tree Friends

While having dinner with my buddy good good female friends (and two of their hubbies) last night, I mentioned about this Happy Tree Friends animated clips. Very nice and worthy watching, just don't do it before your meals. So to prove that I'm not the gee-na one among them, I shall link them to this happening site -> http://happytreefriends.atomfilms.com/index.html. Try it!

We had a fun time yesterday, though all had to wait for me to liquidify my Yum Yum Mushroom crepe. Those two women who are married actually are more playful and kiddish than Fang and me! I think next time they can roll around and play merrily together with their kids, behaving like them too. :p Happy to see them leading wonderful lives with their partners too. On the other hand, Fang and I need more rest! We were coughing away and especially poor Fang, gotta work hard in the IT line and even do OT on saturdays. Ger, must enjoy life while we can and job for greener pasture soon yo!